Norman "Swede" Ralston

Founder of Aero Air, flight trainer: Living

With an avid and infectious passion for aviation, Norman “Swede” Ralston has inspired thousands to take to the skies. Swede saw his first airplane at the age of five and ran a mile over fields and fences to keep it in sight. As a teen, he purchased and rebuilt an American Eaglet. Flying at every opportunity, Swede barnstormed, sold rides and lessons, built an experimental aircraft designed by Les Long called the Ralston Low Wing, and constructed the first commercial hangar at Hillsboro, Oregon. Courting his future wife, Radah, from an airplane instead of a car, Swede often landed on a field intentionally left unplanted by her father adjacent to their farm.

During WWII, Swede trained hundreds of Army pilots with Tex Rankin at the Rankin Air Academy in California. Returning to Hillsboro, he continued flight instruction, converted surplus General Motors TBMs to spray forests, and purchased a fleet of aircraft for Ralston Airshows. Ralston entertained thousands with a host of different aircraft – like the “Skinless Cub,” a modified Piper J-3 with a horse saddle on it.  One of his most memorable flights was a dash through the massive wooden dirigible hangar at the Tillamook Naval Air Station at 250 miles an hour in a North American AT-6 Texan!

In 1956 Ralston founded Aero Air, which today is a successful full service Fixed Based Operator. Ralston counts the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award, International Council of Air Shows Hall of Fame Award and the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for furthering the cause of aviation safety among his many honors and has been a driving force behind the development of the Hillsboro Airport.

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